In many cities and parks the law and the need for cleanliness now requires that a person must clean up their own dog's litter. This need has resulted in a proliferation of devices and techniques for this purpose. Most of these devices are in the form of scoops or shovels, or are devices to facilitate the use of bags for the pickup of litter. Almost all of the patents of devices, as well as the devices seen in pet stores, have several drawbacks. These drawbacks are usually (a) awkwardness, (b) lack of cleanliness, and (c) unattractiveness.
There are many patents, most of them of recent origin, which are directed toward the cleanup of dog litter. The classifications which appear most pertinent are 294/1.3, 1.4, and 1.5, and 383/33 and 34. None of the art I found in these classifications appears to be prior art to my invention. However, one of the references, U.S. Pat. No. 4,768,818, issued Sept. 6, 1988, to Edwin S. Kolic, and titled "Disposable Litter Pickup Mitt," is related. It is essentially a bag with an inverted pocket allowing the user to insert his hand into the outer bag and pick up the litter in the inner bag. It appears to be the only prior art that avoids the drawbacks mentioned above.
There are many prior art patents on devices facilitating the use of bags for pet litter pickup. Some pertinent ones are disclosed in my pending U.S. application, Ser. No 250,533, filed Sept. 29, 1988 now U.S. Pat. No. 4,900,077.